National

According to reports, several anti-union Corporate Front Groups plan to collectively spend almost $100 million in the next year against the bill and those who support it.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (H.R. 1409, S. 560) is pending legislation in the United States which aims to "amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an easier system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes." The latest version was introduced into both chambers of the U.S. Congress on 10 March 2009.

WASHINGTON - Eric Holder, the nation’s first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was “a nation of cowards” on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues.

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said.

NEW YORK -- In 2007, the mayor of Morristown, New Jersey tried to enroll local police officers in a federal program that delegates immigration enforcement duties to local and state police.

Dozens of law enforcement agencies nationwide already had joined the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program. Called 287(g) for a section of the 1996 immigration law that created it, the program is touted as a partnership between federal and local law enforcement to crack down on dangerous transnational crimes, like drug trafficking and human smuggling.

Look, I'm as big a fan of round numbers and arbitrary goals as the next person, but the politicking and compromise between House and Senate leaders in pursuit of the final stimulus package that should be signed into law by President Obama before the end of the week seems a bit much.

The final cost of the bill looks like it will be $789 billion, which is $30 billion less than the House approved last week and $39 billion less than the Senate's version as well. One of the major reasons why the compromise version ended up being smaller was a push from a number of moderate senators from both parties who refused to vote for any bill that exceeded $800 billion.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta, today issued an urgent action alert today in response to the introduction of legislation to temporarily suspend the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as it applies to the California Delta pumping facilities during times of drought.

The bill will also establish a Delta Smelt conservation hatchery, a bad idea that was defeated in the State Legislature last year, due to opposition by a coalition of environmental organizations, fishing groups and Delta residents.

Editor's Note: A proposal to make English the official language of Nashville, Tenn. was defeated on Jan. 22. While the coalition that came together to defeat the measure is celebrating, English-only proponents claim they are winning in state capitols around the country. NAM contributing editor Marcelo Ballvé reports on immigration. This is part of NAM's Reports from the Frontlines.

"No más." No more. Those were the words of surrender reportedly spoken by a Nashville councilman on January 22, after voters defeated his quest to make English the city's official language.

While PXP and the Environmental Defense Center on behalf of their clients had reached an agreement for new offshore oil development of Tranquillon Ridge in exchange for an end date and other oil exploration curtailing offers, I had serious concerns about approving this deal

My first concern is that the details of the agreement between PXP and the Environmental Defense Center were never available for public review.

The fate of public lands cannot be decided in contracts negotiated behind closed doors. Our coastal economy contributes more than $50 billion to the State of California, and protecting our natural resources is an essential goal that I know we all share for not just ourselves, but future generations. Because Californians have a vested interest in protecting our coast and preserving our economy, the details of this agreement must be presented to the public.

Editor’s Note: The recent death of an immigrant in a detention center, and a flurry of upcoming reports about conditions in detention center will likely make detention reform one of the first immigration issues the Obama administration will have to contend with writes NAM contributor Roberto Lovato.

Guantanamo Bay isn’t the only prison crisis that President Barack Obama will have to deal with. There’s another crisis growing - in the many immigration detention centers carpeting the interior of the country. Long ignored by policymakers because they make up the politically lethal combination of immigration and prison reform, calls for major restructuring of the immigration detention system may soon become unavoidable. The death of German immigrant Guido Newbrough in a Virginia detention center has pushed the issue to the front burner, helped along by incessant calls for change from advocates like Gil Velazquez.